A gallery of pictures of tubers and roots which were harvested in December when I had a blog-free month!
Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) harvest on 24th December 2020; I still have two varieties, a red and a yellow, grown in pots and then brought inside to tuberise (I usually grow under lights, but this year without lights I got a similar yield).
Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) harvest on 24th December 2020; I still have two varieties, a red and a yellow, grown in pots and then brought inside to tuberise (I usually grow under lights, but this year without lights I got a similar yield).
Edible lily bulbs : Yellow Lilium martagon (Martagon lily / krøll-lilje), Lilium lancifolium (tiger lily / tigerlilje) and Lilium davidiii (David’s lily / Davidslilje)
This year’s Xmas tubasmagoria, all roasted for Xmas dinner: parsnip (pastinakk), carrot (gulrot), potato (potet), Tigridia pavonia, Madeira Vine (Anredera), oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and Allium stipitatum (Persian shallot)
Roast parsnip (pastinakk) is a must for Xmas dinner, I’ve probably grown these for almost 40 years for Xmas
Nut and tuber roast has been Xmas dinner for 40 years!
More dandelions (løvetann) harvested for sprouting
More dandelions (løvetann) harvested for sprouting, but big ones are also eaten in soups and stir-fries
I’ve been enjoying my edimental lilies this week and eating the flowers, both as salad and in last night’s tempura!
More about edible lily bulbs in the following entries on my web site:
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=8614
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2614
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2207
Buds of Lilium martagon var. dalmaticum Ex-“Nauoussa Boutari”
Lilium martagon var. dalmaticum Ex-“Nauoussa Boutari”…a gorgeous dark red form ” introduced by the Alpine Garden Society’s seed-collecting expedition to Greece (MESE) in 1999, named in commemoration of the red wine enjoyed by the team members each evening”!
Lilium hansonii
Lilium hansonii
Lilium davidii
Lilium davidii
Lilium regale
Lilium regale
Lilium regale
Lilium hansonii?
Lilium pyrenaicum: the bulbs of this one are bitter and best not eaten!
Lilium davidii
010818: Lilium henryi emerged overnight!
010818: Lilium henryi emerged overnight!
010818: Lilium henryi emerged overnight!
010818: Lilium lancifolium (tiger lily) will soon be in flower!
A selection of late May flowers in the Edible Garden:
Trillium grandiflorum intertwined with a self-sowed Hablitzia
Trillium grandiflorum intertwined with a self-sowed Hablitzia and Lilium martagon
Trillium flexipes, Nodding wakerobin
Trillium flexipes, Nodding wakerobin
Allium humile, a beauty from the mountains of China
Allium humile, a beauty from the mountains of China
Allium humile, a beauty from the mountains of China
Dandelion peeping between the hairy stems of Heracleum maximum
I love the way Trillium grandiflorum petals turn pink towards the end (as wood anemone also does sometimes)
I love the way Trillium grandiflorum petals turn pink towards the end (as wood anemone also does sometimes)
I love the way Trillium grandiflorum petals turn pink towards the end (as wood anemone also does sometimes)
Tonight’s dinner was a lily – chufa – parsley stir-fry (chinese style) with buckwheat noodles…
Lily = bulbs of Lilium martagon (Martagon lily), an important forest garden source of carbohydrate, liking the shady conditions of deciduous woodlands
Chufa – the delicious tubers of the grass Cyperus esculentus
Lily bulbs
Cleaning chufa
Cleaned lily bulb scales and chufa tubers
Parsley direct from the cellar!
Lily scales, chufa, hydrated dried winter chantarelle, garlic and chili
Finished after stir-frying on the wood stove!
From Wikipedia : “ Fasciation (pronounced /ˌfæʃiˈeɪʃən/, from the Latin root meaning “band” or “stripe”), also known as cresting, is a relatively rare condition of abnormal growth in vascular plants in which the apical meristem (growing tip), which normally is concentrated around a single point and produces approximately cylindrical tissue, instead becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, thus, producing flattened, ribbon-like, crested, or elaborately contorted tissue”
This deviant martagon lily (Lilium martagon) turned up in my garden in 2014. Martagon lily have one of the best tasting lily bulbs, and is a good edible for the forest garden as they are shade tolerant :)
This is what happened when I ate it ;) I’ve now fully recovered :)
An interview with yours truly at Holma Forest Garden in Southern Sweden during my visit in early May. Filmed and produced by Jim Nilsson who did an excellent job I think :) The interviewer is Eric Karlsson!
Click here: https://vimeo.com/172589400
Below are a few pictures I took of early spring in the this great Forest Garden:
Blanched Hablitzia shoots
Blanched Hablitzia shoots
Bistort (Polygonum bistorta)
Claytonia sibirica, a nice edible shade lover, but a bit invasive!
Garlic being grown as a perennial
Lilium martagon is one of the best sources of carbohydrates in the lower levels of the forest garden
Mallows (Malva moschata)
Proud to see Barstow’s copse coming along well…many of the plants in my book will be planted here…
In the centre of the forest garden is a communal area!
Outside the deer proof fence are planted day lilies!
As we prepared to do the interview, the smoke kept on blowing into our faces… ;)
I was really happy that Alys Fowler agreed to write the book’s foreword. She visited me for 3 days in 2010 when she was writing the book the Thrifty Forager and she devotes a whole section to my garden, its plants and The Modern Monk (guess who) :) In the foreword to my book, there’s a picture of Alys reading my old copy coverless copy of Cornucopia II in the garden!
A Modern Monk in his garden with Lilium martagon in full flower!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden